Many of us share a love of video games and their ability to thrust us into realms of fantasy and escapism, but with all that magic comes the bleak reality that the video game industry is, through and through, a business. Money talks, and corporations at the top of the video game industry know this all to well. Sure, many games are borne from passion, creativity, and the furthest reaches of the imagination, but money really is that cold grasp that keeps all the magic from running rampant at times.
Throughout the history of video games, we have had quite a few different products that can only be described as cash-grabs, whether it’s devices like the Power Glove or on-disc downloadable content. As the video game hardware evolves, however, so do these cash-grabs. Specifically, the latest technique is the Season Pass.
Some games have Season Passes that offer a player’s money’s worth, and some games don’t make players pay at all. Some games, though, are just shameless. Here’s a handful of the Season Passes that were just insulting.
Mortal Kombat X
Nearly the whole gaming world cheered when Mortal Kombat X was shown to come to fruition in all its glory.
Nearly the whole gaming world sighed when they saw that it would be receiving the Season Pass treatment known as the Kombat Pack.
This seemed a bit puzzling, as there seemed to be a sackful of characters that had been missing gotten the cut for the new game. Of course, the core game itself is phenomenal, with tons of content, but that’s why one would imagine that a Season Pass that goes for half the game’s price would bring half the game’s content. This was not so.
A $30 price tag for the Kombat Pack convinced many eager players to purchase the entirety of Mortal Kombat X for a lump sum of $90. This pass, however, would only bring one new character every few months over the next year, in addition to three costumes for some characters. Considering how much there is to unlock in the core game, some players felt disappointment that it felt like characters were removed only to have those slots paid for upon release.
The biggest problem, however, was the fact was that characters seemed unusually omitted. Baraka, Rain, and Sindel were series staples, and yet they were not given character slots, which would be fine if they weren’t actually in the game already. In the Story Mode, players will face off against these characters, and yet it remains a mystery as to why they were excluded from being playable, only to then have players pay for their inclusion. Additionally, another Kombat Pack is set to release in the coming months, which would mean original purchasers of the game may be spending even more, perhaps $120, for Mortal Kombat X.
This is a true fatality to the wallets of people who just want to enjoy everything the game has to offer.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Like most games of this generation, Batman: Arkham Knight released at the full price of $60. That seems reasonable for a game of that scale, giving players nearly the entire city of Gotham to soar and drive through, fighting crime and being rich. Arkham Knight was given a $40 Season Pass, though, offering a bevy of new content that would be released for the game.
As loyal fans may, they gladly paid the price tag and dished out a whopping $100 to play Batman: Arkham Knight in its entirety. If the price hiked so much, surely that downloadable content was hefty enough to eventually equal out to over half of the regular game’s content. Unfortunately, many players paid the $40 for something unknown, they paid for a promise.
The entire list of content was only released as the months went by, releasing said content on a monthly basis, but players grew more anxious when each month only brought one lackluster compilation of content after another. The episodic chapters seemed bare, the various costumes couldn’t be completely utilized for few months until the option to use other characters at will was released, and extra AR challenges only offered more of what the Arkham series has done over and over.
Season of Infamy released eventually, finally giving the world the downloadable content they deserved with excellent writing, interesting and familiar characters, and creative scenarios, although all at a fraction of what the Season Pass offered. Come on, Bats.
Star Wars: Battlefront
Kicking things up a notch, the folks over at Electronic Arts allowed the Season Pass for Star Wars: Battlefront to be a steep $50. At this point, the problem isn’t so much whether or not the pass would include a small amount of content; the lack of content in the core game is the true crime, as players are implored to pay $110, almost twice the amount of the standard game, for what many would say only then equals a full game.
Star Wars: Battlefront had the misfortune of being released with minimal content on the disc, with the exclusion of a single-player campaign and many classic characters, especially compared to its predecessor, 2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront II. To put things in perspective, the number of playable Star Wars characters was whittled down from 23 to 6.
Oh, yes, the new Battlefront is absolutely marvelous to look at, but beauty is only skin deep. No matter how lovely a game is, there are so many more facets of a form of interactive media than how nice it looks. That’s what makes it interactive.
Perhaps this fiasco meant development was just rushed and that the rest of the game would be released in patches, even if players had to pay a fee. The reality was, though, that the Season Pass would cost that $50, with which people could buy another game entirely.
Season Passes are not always all bad, but these are some examples of the biggest perpetrators insulting the video gaming population. As the video game industry is a business, one would expect that the product would be worth the price tag. The scariest part here is that these are some of the most high-profile games to release this generation. Buying these Season Passes only gives companies the greenlight to make more.
Just a couple of years ago, Season Passes were merely $10, and that was already a strange practice then. Of course, it is your money, and you’re free to do whatever you want with it. The reality is, though, that many people would like to enjoy their hobby without needing to dole out so much for scant returns. Not many of us can afford to spend over $100 for our favorite games.
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